Taksalis did not consult me before declaring Sidhu as CM face: Dhindsa

Four days after the Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali) extended an open invitation to Congress MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu to be their CM candidate for the 2022 assembly elections, suspended Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa on Friday said the announcement was made without consulting him.

Dihindsa, who was in Ludhiana on Friday, said their primary focus was to rid Sikh institutions, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and Akal Takht of the clutches of Badals. “We will think about the 2022 polls later,” said the rebel Akali leader.

Launching a “jan andolan” to bring together all rebel Akali leaders from Ludhiana on one platform, Dhindsa said they will join hands with former Dakha MLA HS Phoolka and all other like-minded parties and leaders who want to free the SAD and Sikh institutions from the Badals. He refuted allegations that he and his son Parminder Singh Dhindsa were being used as “pawns” by the Congress a bid to weaken the SAD.

Dhindsa was accompanied by former Union minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, former president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) Manjit Singh GK and SAD (Taksali) leader Sewa Singh Sekhwan during an event organised at the Community Centre in Model town area of the city. The leaders said that they would also approach the Union government for conducting SGPC elections in the state.

Ramoowalia said that a “Gurdwara Sudhar Lehar” was once started in 1920 and a new “lehar” (movement) has now started in Punjab to free the Gurdwaras and SGPC from Badals.

Slamming SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal for “mismanaging” the party affairs and “encouraging” mafia in the state during the SAD-BJP tenure, Dhindsa said that they are inviting the SAD leaders who want to revive the Akali Dal.

TAKSALIS’ CORE COMMITTEE

MEET IN JALANDHAR ON JAN 28

AMRITSAR: The Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali), a splinter group of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), has called a meeting of its core committee on January 28 in Jalandhar to discuss the present political scenario of Punjab.

In a release, senior party leaders Manmohan Singh Sathiala and Gurpreet Singh Calcutta said the party was working to liberate the Sikh institutions, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and Akal Takht, from the clutches of the Badal family and it will also be an agenda during the meeting.